The company said it expects more than $350 million in annual savings when the reorganization plan is fully in place by the end of its 2018 fiscal year. HBC said moves needed to secure $125 million in savings are in place as of today.

"These savings are required to help offset revenue, margin and cost pressures the company is facing as a result of the current environment," HBC said in a statement.

In conjunction with the news of its reorganization, HBC reported first-quarter retail sales were $3.2 billion, a decrease of $100 million, or three per cent, from the prior year.

He said the company was allocating more resources "to accelerate the opportunity we see online," while running its bricks and mortar stores more efficiently.

Bruce Winder, co-founder and partner at Retail Advisors Network, said he wasn't surprised by HBC's move, saying the company had been through a number of tough quarters and signalled in the previous period there would be some fairly drastic moves to lower costs.

"They're in a channel that is in some pretty tough waters, ie. the department store channel," Winder told CBC's Meegan Reed.